Monday, March 21, 2016

How to legally RIP a DVD without any watermark or other restriction

Although most people now prefer to watch movies of private parties such as birthdays, weddings, etc. on their computers or mobile phones, those who shoot and edit these movies almost always give the customer a DVD that isn't in a format that computers generally recognise. It's a legacy thing; way back in primitive times, people used to watch movies using a DVD in a DVD player, a thingamajig that plugged into a TV.

What's worse, people may want to edit these movies, removing content that isn't relevant or adding subtitles for those who don't understand the language spoken in the movies.

Of course, providers argue that you should update your movie-playing software so that it plays DVDs but that's just chalk to your cheese.

So how do you convert a DVD into an editable and watchable movie?

Well, search on the net and you'll get plenty of software that promises to convert your DVD into an editable movie but they are all "bait and switch" items. They convert only a few minutes of the DVD and/or insert a huge "watermark" (that's actually an obscurer of the video) so the video is pretty much unwatchable. They, of course, want you to buy the software so you can convert the movie but there's no guarantee it'll do the job even if you pay.

Believe it or not, there is a perfectly legal way to convert a DVD to an editable format without a watermark, for free! It is a time-limited way but it works if you need to convert just a DVD or two in one month.

First, download Sony Vegas Pro, the latest version, and install it. You will get access to a trial version that works for about a month but if you need to convert (rip) just a DVD or two, it's a good deal.

Once installed, start Sony Vegas Pro and open the VOB files on the DVD. Lay the files end to end in the timeline and export to avi [File-->Render], saving the avi file in a location you can remember.

2 comments:

I have used many, many of those programs that are "bait and switch" or just full of questionable stuff. The program I ended up finding and using is called Format Factory found at http://www.pcfreetime.com/

I actually found it when I needed to convert a video file to an audio file. I noticed that it also converts DVDs to Video files as well. It is free and I have used it for a few years with no big glaring ads or extra stuff installed with it.